March 2025: the new economy
Each month, we break down our topic into four weekly modules. Catch up on previous editions here.
This week's module: ACT
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Here's what we'll learn today Reader
So last week in my Changeletter intro, I pondered if billionaires were human. I shouldn't have said that.
As long as any human being is unable to meet their basic needs and wants, I continue to believe billionaires shouldn't exist, so I don't apologize to the billionaires.
But I'm sorry to YOU, especially if you were uncomfortable with the slippery slope of deciding who gets to be human. That's not the purpose of our Changeletters and I'm sorry for any internal chaos my half-baked thoughts caused you!
I'm also really grateful to everyone who replied and added your own thoughts to the discussion. It's a great reminder that the point of discussion is to, well, discuss! And that we CAN have healthy disagreement without making it a whole cancel culture thing.
I'm going to go back to my fun slightly irrelevant intros of how I'm doing and how my weekends are going:
For the next week-ish, I'll be on my first vacation in 5ever!! I've been working on Soapbox full-time and I haven't been taking my own advice on resting, oops, but that ends today!
As you're reading this, I'll be on a plane to an island to celebrate my friend's milestone birthday! SEE YA LATER 🐊🐊🐊
Also a good reminder that reducing/eliminating plane travel is one of the most significant ways to reduce our carbon footprint. I haven't stopped taking flights entirely, but I try my best to be very intentional about what I travel for... it's a work in progress ✨
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Your bite-sized action plan Reader
✅ ACT by committing to something you're going to do to create a new economy that works for people + planet
- Make a billionaire less rich, it's super easy and fun! This week (mid-March 2025), people who sold their Tesla stocks made Elon Musk SEVEN BILLION DOLLARS POORER. There are obviously lots of reasons why stocks go up and down, but definitely the international campaign to dump Tesla helped. And the Tesla Takedown is working. I dumped all my $TSLA recently and cackled while doing it.
Here's a list of real time billionaires for your reading displeasure. It is sickening to see how many Waltons (of Walmart) are on there. I learned a lot!
- Switch your bank. You can go on Mighty Deposits to see what your bank/credit union is currently doing with your money. If you're happy with it, great! If you're unhappy with it, CHANGE IT! I used Mighty Deposits to open a savings account with a bank whose values align with mine (NCB coop) and had a great experience throughout the whole process.
- Switch your investments/retirement. You've seen this in our Changeletters time and time again, but seriously, check out Carbon Collective. You can go even farther with your impact if you get your company to add them to your 401(k) options! They also have a $CCSO ETF so you can go do your homework and see what money moves to make.
- Tell your employer or your friend's employer to escape the Chamber. The US Chamber of commerce is a trade organization that has spent years and mILLIONS of dollars lobbying against climate progress. Employers you either work for or know (Microsoft! Amazon! Google!) pay money towards this. Tell them to maybe don't do this?? Escape the chamber!
- Join your local Buy Nothing or similar gift economy groups. Buy Nothing is a classic. Freecycle is cool too. And if you want to join a newer org that lets you customize who's in it, check out Community Gearbox! We've got a Soapbox Seattle group going.
- Nudge your friends to think for like .01 seconds before buying something new. I'm in a bachelorette planning group, and the amount of Amazon links is really boggling my mind. There are a lot of good people in the world that simply don't take a fraction of a second to THINK before they hit the Buy Now button. Next time you're part of any group purchasing decision, whether that's bach planning, a baby shower, or even going out for dinner, gently interrupt the immediate purchasing fervor. You could say "hey! I can help acquire X because I'd really like to support local businesses" or something else that's kind thought-provoking.
- Watch Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy. Here it is, and you should totally make it a whole night's shindig, have some friends over, and treat them to a plant-based meal (you don't even have to tell them it's no meat until the end of the movie where you can point out that cutting out beef is one of the most significant individual climate actions ever, and they already did it tonight with you, yay! Also the beef industry has been killing Indigenous people in Nicaragua so great news no beef = lives saved).
The New Economy is sooooooo many different things, so find an area that appeals to you and start there! Do a thing, talk about the thing, and be proud of yourself.
I am so proud of YOU Reader !! !!
Okay I am off to my vacation, see you next week!
Love,
Nivi
